Keeping alive art of shadow puppets
■ Family of puppeteers tries to recreate magic of ancient art
A Gurugram- based company ketchupmoms. com in collaboration with Scholastic India is trying to revive and preserve shadow puppetry Tholpavakoothu, an ancient art form which has been around for many centuries.
Tholpavakoothu, a shadow puppetry through leather puppets, is slowly seeing its decline and Rajeev Pulavar, along with his father Ramachandran, is trying to recreate it.
Trained by his father and renowned puppeteer Guru Krishnankutty Pulavar, Ramachandaran mastered all the aspects of the art throughout his childhood and now his son Rajeev is on the same path.
Traditionally, the art was only meant to be performed in Bhadrakali Temples in Kerala and it was Rajeev Pulavar who got the whole art out of the temple and made it a little contemporary while maintaining the sanity and divinity behind it.
Rajeev, who himself has won numerous awards with the likes of Ustad Bismillah Ali Khan Yuva Puruskar National Award and Young Talent Artist Award, talks about the origin of the form and its relation with Hindu mythology.
The story of Tholpavakoothu goes back to the time of lord Shiva who created leather figures to demonstrate Ramayana to his daughter Devi Bhadrakali who missed it during her fight with Dharikasura happening at the same time.
It is believed that Shiva took the form of a scholar, Kamban, and commanded her to visit a temple where she first witnessed, Tholpavakuttu. It is also believed that he wrote songs for her recalling the fight, which are now used in the traditional form of the puppetry.
As per the ritual, leather puppets are manipulated using light from lamps lit in coconut shells. The shadow of these puppets falls on a screen, creating lively images, set to music in various languages. In old times a show could go on for as long as 210 hours but to make it more adjustable with time, he and his team have formed shorter versions of stories and are now including stories based on the lives of Ravindranath Tagore, Jesus Christ and Mahatma Gandhi’s freedom struggle.